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Arctic vs. Antarctic. THE POLAR REGIONS. http://www.coolantarctica.com. The North polar region, is called the Arctic , and the South polar region is called the Antarctic. www.arcticantarcticcollection.com. L O C A T I O N. http://www.fourmilab.ch/cgi-bin/Earth
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Arctic vs. Antarctic THE POLAR REGIONS http://www.coolantarctica.com
The North polar region, is called the Arctic, and the South polar region is called the Antarctic. www.arcticantarcticcollection.com
L O C A T I O N • http://www.fourmilab.ch/cgi-bin/Earth • 90° Northlatitude -North Pole • 90° Southlatitude- South Pole • All degrees(°) of longitude come together at the poles.
Arctic North Pole http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/polar.html#arctic
The Arctic is the area around the Earth's northpole and includes parts of northern Canada, Greenland, northern Russia, the United States (Alaska), Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Arctic Ocean.
North Pole ARCTICNO LANDONLY FROZEN ICE SHELF http://www.athropolis.com/library-alpha.htm
Antarctica a continentNOT A COUNTRY The southernmost continent or the area around the south pole.
COMMON CHARACTERISTICS Cold Polar Climates Thick Ice Shelves Ice Cap No vegetation grow average temperature below freezing year round Tundra-harsh and dry, no trees only small shrubs and bushes; permafrost Harsh and Dry, only cold air masses Last Places on Earth to be explored Animals Seals and birds
Tilt of the Earth and Solstice The tilt of the Earth on its axis at 23½° and the revolution around the sun causes the changing of the seasons and the north and south poles to have light and then darkness 6 months of the year. On December 22 during Winter Solstice the sun is directly overhead the Tropic of Capricorn at 23½°S, and the South Pole has sunlight 24 hours a day. On June 21,during Summer Solstice the sun is directly overhead the Tropic of Cancer at 23½°N, and the North Pole has sunlight 24 hours a day.
Antarctica • Coldest windiest and driest continent • Holds 70% of the world fresh water • Interior precipitation less than 2” per year • Largest iceberg ever spotted • 208 miles long and 60 miles wide
5.1 million square miles Highest Peak Vinson Massif 16,067ft. Lowest Point Bentley Subglacial Trench -8,383ft Coldest Place Plateau Station- Average -70°C Mt. Erebus World’s southern most volcano Glacier Antarctic Mt. Erebus Current Antarctic Weather
http://www.gdargaud.net/Antarctica/MapSatellite/AntarcticStationsMap.gifhttp://www.gdargaud.net/Antarctica/MapSatellite/AntarcticStationsMap.gif
Antarctic Government-none Several countries have claims for scientific research • United Kingdom, Australia, Argentina, Chile, France, New Zealand, and Norway • Research stations only: U.S., Russia, India, Japan Antarctic Treaty of 1959 provides peaceful guidelines for scientific research among nations.
Arctic Snow bunting (bird) Walrus Banded Seal Brent goose Bearded Seal Elephant Seal Harp Seal Polar Bear Bewick’s Swan Dunlin (bird) Greenland collard lemming (rodent) Gyr Falcon (bird) Reindeer Ermine (mammal) Arctic Skua Arctic Hare Arctic Fox Arctic tern (bird) Antarctic Chinstrap Penguin Emperor Penguin Adelie Penguin Gentoo Hourglass dolphin Killer Whale Humpback whale Ross Seal Leopard Seal Weddell Seal Great Shearwater Bird Antarctic Skua (bird) Crab-eater Seal List of Wildlife in the Polar Regions
A colony of King Penguins at the Grand Manchotiere on Ile de la Possession, in the sub-Antarctic. mark van de wouw photos
As the adult King Penguins are preparing for a new breeding season, the chicks are slowly pushed out of the colony.
A few Weddel Seals come to Elephant Island in summer to rest.
Part of a large colony of Adelie penguins at Gourlay, Signy Island. You can smell the colony before you see it!
Thousands of years before Peary and his expeditions arrived, as far back as 2000 BC, a group of people had been thriving in the harsh polar environment. The Inuit, Aleut and the Eurasian Arctic cultures are defined by uniformity of practices and customs, and not geography. In the Western Arctic, the region where Peary explored, the Inuit speak Inuktitut which is written with special characters called syllabics.
Inuit clothing, made from seal, caribou and other fur bearing animals, is ideally suited for the Arctic. The finest and warmest garments placed two layers of fur back to back, thus fur was on the outside and the inside of the garment next to the wearer's skin. The air trapped between the skins, as well as the air between the fur creates great insulation. The success of many polar expeditions came from adopting the "native ways." http://www.ih.k12.oh.us/ps/Inuit/Maininuit.htm
ARCTIC HOUSING • CIRCA 1900 HOME WERE MADE OF DRIFTWOOD ON STILTS IN THE SUMMER, AND IGLUS WERE MADE IN THE WINTER ON THE FROZEN ICE. http://daphne.palomar.edu/ddozier/course_notes/regions/arctic_files/arctic.htm
Walrus in Bering Sea, Alaska NationalGeographic Walruses are social animals, often living in groups of over a hundred individuals. Eskimos and other hunters value the creature for its blubber, hide, and ivory tusks
Polar Bears • Defenders of Wildlife-Adopt a Polar Bear http://www.defenders.org/wildlife_and_habitat/wildlife/polar_bear.php
Arctic Fox national geographic National Geographic Arctic Animal Photo Gallery
Arctic Wolf http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/images/Wolf/mech_04.jpg
sUrViVaL • There are four basic principles to follow to keep warm. An easy way to remember these basic principles is to use the word COLD-- • C - Keep clothing clean. • O - Avoid overheating. • L - Wear clothes loose and in layers. • D - Keep clothing dry. • http://www.survivaliq.com/index.htm
Arctic Explorers http://www.athropolis.com/map6.htm
Robert E. Peary-First Man to Reach the North Pole • Even as a boy, Robert E. Peary, born on May 6, 1856, dreamed of exploring the "roof of the world," the frozen Arctic north. They had no parkas or space-age fabrics and no cell phones or advanced navigational devices, but Robert E. Peary and his assistant, Matt Henson, set out to reach the North Pole for the first time in 1905. No one had been there before. Indeed, it took Peary years to put the expedition together.
Matthew Henson • An engineer, Peary was sent on his first job to the warm tropics rather than the icy northland. In Nicaragua, in Central America, he brought along his African-American assistant, Matthew Henson who became such a trusted companion that the two men traveled together on all of Peary's expeditions. Together, they took steps toward their northernmost goal.
Peary and Henson traveled to Greenland to prepare for the trip, where they learned survival techniques in the sub-zero temperatures from the Inuit tribes of Greenland.
The ship they were traveling on failed to make it through the ice. They tried again in 1908, setting out with 24 companions and 133 dogs. This time, according to their calculations, they made it to the North Pole on April 6, 1909. But scientists discovered in 1989 that Peary and Henson were actually just short of the Pole. Still, Peary and Henson showed that exploration was possible in Arctic regions and paved the way for future explorers. Have you ever done something that made it easier for the next person to do the same thing?
Antarctic Expeditions • First men to reach the South Pole were Roald Admundsen a Norwegian in Dec 1911 , and a month later Robert Falcon Scott, an Englishman and his crew died on the journey home. • Earnest Shackleton attempted to make the first Transcontinental expedition across Antarctica. http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/shackleton/